Research Blog : google, electronic frontier foundation, legislationhttp://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/tags/google/electronic+frontier+foundation/legislation/default.aspxTags: google, electronic frontier foundation, legislationenCommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Build: 30619.63)SOPA & PIPA gaining attention after protest blackoutshttp://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/2012/01/18/sopa-amp-pipa-gaining-attention-after-protest-blackouts.aspxWed, 18 Jan 2012 18:51:00 GMT9a7b961d-7882-4302-b701-732ca0e566f2:2349professor.knowsitall@evpl0http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=2349http://evpl.org/community/blogs/research/archive/2012/01/18/sopa-amp-pipa-gaining-attention-after-protest-blackouts.aspx#comments<p><img style="float:right;border:2px solid black;margin-left:5px;" title="Google&#39;s homepage on 1/18/12" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6721376659_ec4f48fed2_o.png" alt="Google&#39;s homepage on 1/18/12" width="275" height="166" />With some websites (such as <a href="http://www.google.com/" target="_blank">Google</a> and <a href="http://blog.flickr.net/en/2012/01/18/pipa-sopa/" target="_blank">Flickr</a>) making statements today, along with other sites completely shutting down for the day (such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/" target="_blank">reddit</a>, and <a href="http://wordpress.org/" target="_blank">WordPress</a>), the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) are gaining mainstream attention.</p>
<p>SOPA, in the U.S. House of Representatives, and PIPA, in the U.S. Senate, are bills are aimed at foreign websites that infringe copyrighted material.&nbsp; The US Department of Justice would have the authority to block access to, as well as force advertisers to cease business with, an infringing site.&nbsp; Search engines would also have to remove these sites from their search results.</p>
<p>Arguments against these bills (made by the tech giants named above, as well as&nbsp;eBay, Craigslist, Twitter, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many more) claim that they&#39;re too vaguely written, they won&#39;t actually curb piracy, and that they could be applied to their own websites.&nbsp; This is a big concern with sites that allow users to upload content, as the sites fear that they could be completely shut down due to&nbsp;infringing content that&nbsp;a single user might upload.</p>
<p>However, SOPA/PIPA supporters claim that things are being blown out of proportion.&nbsp; Cary Sherman, CEO of the RIAA, has stated that there are safeguards in place to prevent false claims against sites.</p>
<p>This is an extremely basic look at SOPA &amp; PIPA.&nbsp; This post is intended to be an informative post, leading readers to additional/complete information;&nbsp;<strong>this is NOT&nbsp;an opinion piece.</strong>&nbsp; Take a look at the additional info yourself, and if YOU have an opinion feel free to post it in the comments section!</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>More Information</strong></p>
<ul style="margin-top:3px;">
<li><strong>Library of Congress:</strong> Read both the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.03261:" target="_blank">SOPA</a> and <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:s.00968:" target="_blank">PIPA</a> bills in their entirety.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/networking/sopa-and-pipa-the-pros-and-cons-184397?page=0,0" target="_blank"><strong>InfoWorld</strong></a><strong>:</strong> &quot;SOPA and PIPA: The pros and cons&quot; article.</li>
<li><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57320417-93/riaa-chief-copyright-bills-wont-kill-the-internet/" target="_blank"><strong>CNET News</strong></a><strong>:</strong> &quot;RIAA chief: Copyright bills won&#39;t kill the Internet&quot; article.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.evpl.org/research/databases/db.aspx?id=77" target="_blank"><strong>Opposing Viewpoints in Context database</strong></a><strong>:</strong> In this database, search for SOPA or PIPA for news, audio recordings, and magazine articles about these bills.</li>
<li><a href="http://americancensorship.org/" target="_blank"><strong>Stop American Censorship</strong></a><strong>:</strong> AmericanCensorship.org, an anti-SOPA/PIPA site, provides infographics and videos about the bills.</li>
<li><a href="http://sopastrike.com/" target="_blank"><strong>SOPA Strike</strong></a><strong>:</strong> A list of the websites striking and/or shutting down today in protest to SOPA/PIPA.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>DISCLAIMER: These links are provided as a convenience, offering differing viewpoints.&nbsp; The links are NOT an endorsement of these sites, nor the content contained within.</strong></p><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://evpl.org/community/aggbug.aspx?PostID=2349" width="1" height="1">googleinternetTwitterlegislationFlickrcopyrightwordpresswikipediariaaredditelectronic frontier foundationmpaapipacraigslistdepartment of justiceebaybillsdebatesopa